A movie review by me? Well, I’m going to give it a shot . . . I make all my apologies in advance for this one. Possible SPOILERS for anyone who has never seen a Pixar film before. Also, I know I’m late to the game on this one, but it isn’t easy seeing a movie in the theater with a toddler.
This movie follows a similar plot path as other Pixar films with the hero having some mental issue to get over, start to rise above, fall back down, and rise above it. This isn’t a spoiler because Pixar has done this time and time again. It’s called pattern recognition, people.
That being said, I love this movie. The gaming nostalgia is fun, but it’s mostly in the beginning and a little in the wrap-up part of the finale. You see some old characters like the Qbert characters, Pong, and many others that you have to keep your eyes open for. As someone who started on a home Pong machine, I really enjoyed this part. Especially the villain meetings. Though, Qbert stuff made me tear up a little because they looked so sad an destitute.
Ralph is an interesting character, but seems to be a little shallow in terms of character depth even when he’s trying to be something other than what he really is. At first, I wasn’t sure I liked it, but a thought occurred to me. He’s an old arcade character like Fix-It Felix (his protagonist) and both of them were rather simple when compared to Sergeant Calhoun and Vanellope. Whether it was on purpose or not, that does make a lot of sense. Those two came from a time where characters had basic tasks with no character depth, so them being more one-track minded fits them. Since I’m on characters, I have to admit that Vanellope is horribly adorable. Part of me wanted to hate her, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. Far too cute and silly.
Really that’s all there is to go on. The worlds are awe-inducing and show that the Pixar team has enough imagination to be considered wizards. The plot is standard, but changed enough (‘villain’ trying to be a ‘hero’) that you don’t roll your eyes and yawn. The Konami Code makes an appearance. For those that don’t know: Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start.
Is this movie going to shock you with plot twists? Well, there is one twist that I will admit I didn’t see coming. The rest is just relaxing fun, which is what Pixar movies are all about. The ‘hero’ goes on an adventure and finds out about his true character then returns to his life as a changed character.
Legends of Windemere 
Yeah it’s a very formulaic movie. That’s not so much of a bad thing, as it is a kid’s movie after all. But sometimes I kind of wish some of the characters in kids movies would all die at the end just to break conventions.
How about you Charles? Or have I just lost the plot? (pardon the pun) 🙂
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Kids movies are typically formulaic and Pixar has that formula, which always works. As for killing all of the characters at the end of a kids movie . . . I don’t think that would go over very well. There’s breaking conventions and then there’s simple shock value. For an adult, you could get away with it because an adult has an understanding of life and death. A kid would be upset, angry, and possibly traumatized by seeing all of the characters die.
Good example: Bambi’s mom. This isn’t at the end, but it is a scene in animated movie history that is synonymous with upsetting young viewers. A child doesn’t understand that the death is part of the story and can be used to develop the character. They just know a character died and they should be sad.
Important for books, movies, and television is to know your audience. With little kids, you can’t do much in the way of death-based shock value.
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I’m still traumatized from Lion King, when Mufasa died. 😦
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I wonder if Mufasa was done to give the other side of the Bambi’s Mom coin. There’s also the Hamlet connection, but it’s interesting how Disney has a ‘dying mom’ and a ‘dying dad’ of traumatizing proportions. Worst part about Mufasa is that if you were the right age, you realized they just killed Darth Vader.
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I watched this the other night. Loved it! Had me tearing up, as Pixar films usually do, and I loved Vanellope. She was just so cute and bouncy. Great voice-work, too. Love films like this where I get to play ‘guess the actor’. Although for some reason, some reviews made me convinced at least one of the characters would die, and I really thought it was going to be Vanellope. Pixar are good at making you think they’re going to kill off someone beloved though.
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Well, a character did die, but we can’t go into that. 😉 I had some caution about Vanellope because the commercials and trailers made her out to be annoying and nothing else. She was also voiced by Sarah Silverman, who tends to be hit and miss with me. I actually forgot she was doing the voice at several points, which made me think she was the best voice actor of the group. Still loved the others, but I really liked Vanellope.
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Well, yeah, but you know what I mean. And I totally agree with you about Vanellope – I’m really not a fan of Sarah Silverman. Haven’t seen a lot of her stuff, but the little I have seen just isn’t funny to me. I was surprised at how much I liked her.
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I think I’ve only enjoyed her in movies where she isn’t trying to be funny. I’m hoping she does more voice acting after this.
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My husband and i really liked the movie. He also enjoyed seeing all the old arcade games that he used to play!
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The nostalgia factor was great for the beginning act of the movie. I was a little disappointed that the video game characters didn’t show up more often once they entered Sugar Rush. Big thumbs up for focusing on Qbert for part of the plot.
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I know about the Konami code ! Mom said she was an expert on Konami games, like Contra and Castlevania.
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I never was able to beat the original Castlevania. I also feel old because those are the games of my childhood. I’m trying to remember the first game that the code showed up in. It was most famous for Contra, but I think there was a space shooter game that had it first.
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